The need for forming butt joints or splices of optical fibers which are used in rommunications networks, integrated optical systems, illuminators, imaging bundles, scanner displays, opto-electronic systems, night vision systems and the like is well known. Various means of securing optical fibers in proper alignment and proximity while joining or splicing the same have been suggested. Two fibers which are to be spliced may be inserted into opposite ends of a channel through ar elastomeric member which secures them in place, as disclosed in Trambarulo, U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,594, and Carlsen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,607. Alternatively, the fibers may be aligned within an alignment groove, or duct defined by two or more juxtaposed cylinders, and secured there, e.g., by a retaining member, as in Cocito et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,708; a cable clamp as in Gauthier, U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,559; or a heat-contractable sleeve as in Stancati, U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,932. Dalgoutte, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,078,910 and 4,124,364, discloses the use of a heat-collapsed glass sleeve to align and secure optical fibers which are to be joined. Blomgren, U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,180, discloses a device wherein two optical fibers may be secured in connective alignment by a deformable housing having first and second interior wall portions defining an interior passageway therethrough.
Such devices, however, are often too complicated for convenient use in the field, or too bulky for use in the restricted spaces where optical fibers are typically used. Many provide connections which are subject to damage from external strains, e.g., longitudinal stresses on one of the fibers may pull the spliced fibers apart or from proper alignment so as to impair or prevent the efficient transmission of a signal through the splice.